What Brings Us Together
by Gryvon
Summary: Iruka wakes up married to Kakashi, which wouldn't be a problem if they hadn't broken up five years ago.


"What the hell?" Iruka's shout hurt his own ears, but that was hardly a concern compared to waking up naked in bed with Kakashi. Then he looked down at his hand and the wedding band on his finger and his voice got louder. "What the hell?"

Kakashi groaned and rolled over, covering his head with a pillow. It was such a familiar gesture that it made Iruka's heart ache. His glare softened, but his confusion didn't.

He slid out of bed, uncaring for his nudity. It wasn't anything Kakashi hadn't seen before, and very little had changed in the years since they'd broken up. Years. Plural. Years which had not, before now, included Kakashi in his bed. Given the soreness in his lower back and legs, there had been sex too. Rather vigorous sex, he guessed, wincing as he leaned down to pick up his pants and underwear and pull them on. He wouldn't have been complaining – okay, he still would be, but for different reasons – except that he couldn't remember sleeping with Kakashi, and he especially didn't remember getting married.

There was a scroll on the floor and, yep, it was exactly what he thought it was – a marriage certificate signed by Tsunade herself, who was probably the only one evil enough to sign such a thing when Iruka, and likely Kakashi, had been drunk out of his mind.

What the hell had they been thinking?

He apparently had said that last thought out loud because Kakashi whined from under his pillow. "Please stop."

Iruka turned, thankfully at least partially dressed, and waved the scroll at Kakashi. It didn't have much effect since Kakashi still had his head buried. "We're married." A thought occurred to him. "You're married. How are we married if you're still married?"

Kakashi mumbled something unintelligible into the pillow.

"What?"

There was apparently enough of a shriek in Iruka's voice for Kakashi to pull his head partially out from the pillow. "Ami and I divorced two years ago."

"What?" The word came out softer this time. He hadn't known. How had he not known? The answer to that was obvious – after Kakashi had broken up with him under pressure from the council to produce an heir, Iruka had avoided anything having to do with Kakashi. Hearing his name hurt. Seeing him around Konoha hurt. He'd changed his entire routine just to avoid Kakashi and yet here they were. It still hurt.

Kakashi slowly rolled over and sat up. He rubbed a hand over his face, messing up his hair further. It was far too endearing a gesture for Iruka to deal with right now. "We were keeping it quiet for Shin's sake, but yeah, I'm not married."

Iruka slowly stepped forward, holding out the scroll. "This says otherwise."

Kakashi took the scroll with a raised eyebrow. His eyebrows rose even further as he read it. He didn't say a word as he rolled it back up and set it aside on the bedside table – the table that used to be full of Kakashi's things.

"Is that so bad?"

Iruka's mouth hung open. He shook his head slowly, not sure what he was denying, but knowing that he had to. "I can't..." He didn't have words to finish that statement. He was a jumbled mess of emotion and he couldn't deal with it all, so instead he grabbed his shirt and fled.

* * *

Kakashi found him at the Memorial Stone. It was so much like old times that Iruka would have laughed if he wasn't too busy trying not to cry.

"Is it really that horrible?" Kakashi asked, his voice so soft that Iruka barely heard him.

"You know why," Iruka said back, his voice just as soft. Dawn was shedding its first rays across the stone. Iruka felt like anything louder than a whisper would break him.

"You're still in love with me."

He didn't have an answer that wasn't a lie.

"I never stopped loving you."

Iruka turned, glaring at Kakashi. "Then why did you..." He stopped. They'd had this argument far too many times. He turned back to the stone and stared down at his hands, clenched so tightly between his knees that his knuckles were white.

He knew exactly why Kakashi had broken up with him. There hadn't been any choice. He needed to continue his bloodline and Iruka wasn't able to do that for him. It had been one of the few times in his life where he'd desperately wished he'd been born the opposite gender, but wishes did little to effect harsh reality.

Kakashi sat on the bench beside him, a solid inch of space between them. "I wanted to marry you. I never... even after Shin was born, the best Ami and I could manage was friends. She didn't love me as much as I didn't love her. She has a girlfriend now. Lovely lady named Tetra. We could have them over for dinner sometime."

"There's no 'we'." Iruka's words carried enough bite to draw blood. They didn't.

"There could be."

Iruka sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, he wanted this. He wanted Kakashi back. He always had. Even after Kakashi had left him, got married, had a kid, his heart had always belonged to Kakashi. It always would. "I can't..."

"Let's take it slow," Kakashi said. "One day at a time. Stay married but start over. A date maybe? Let me take you to dinner, and I'd like you to meet Shin. Not now, but soon."

Iruka stared down at his hands. He wanted to say yes but how could he, after all the time that had passed and all the things that had happened between them. There was too much history. It loomed over him like a tidal wave.

"Okay." That one word was probably the hardest he'd ever said in his life, but he felt lighter for having said it.

* * *

It was strange how easy it was to fall into old routines. They ate at Sumiya, a place Iruka had always considered their restaurant and thus had avoided for the last five years. The proprietor, Hanabi, grinned as she placed their plates down in front of them. After all these years, she still remembered their usual.

"It's good to have you back," she said, patting their hands before leaving them alone with a wink.

"Well, at least that's one person who approves," Iruka muttered as he dug into his yakisoba.

Kakashi's visible eyebrow raised in question as he took a bite of saury.

Iruka blushed and stared down at his food. "You may be getting a visit from Anko. She doesn't approve of the whole," he waved a hand between them, "marriage thing."

Kakashi's lips quirked in a smile. He left his mask down while they were in Sumiya, comfortable enough in their private booth to show at least part of his face. "Just Anko?"

His blush deepened. "There may be others."

"I'd be surprised if there wasn't."

Iruka dared a glance up. Kakashi seemed amused. "Should I expect any visitors?"

"Gai might say something about the springtime of youth but he approves of us getting back together."

Warmth filled Iruka and he shoved food in his mouth to keep from saying something stupid. His friends didn't disapprove so much as they didn't want to see him get hurt again. The fallout last time had been bad. Worse than bad. He didn't like to think about how far he'd fallen.

Maybe this time things would be different.

* * *

Shin was a spirited young boy who liked climbing anything he could and playing with toy soldiers. Iruka watched Shin climb the tree in his backyard with amusement. "Spirited young thing. He's going to be a handful when he gets to school." He cast Kakashi a sidelong glance. "How far away is that?"

"Four more years, just like everyone else. I wanted him to have a normal childhood." Kakashi grinned at him them, the look just short of a leer. "As much as he can considering he has two moms and two dads."

"And considering who those moms and dads are."

Kakashi laughed. His arm wrapped around Iruka's waist. Iruka didn't resist as Kakashi pulled him close. He found comfort in Kakashi's embrace.

Shin waved at them from up in the tree. They waved back.

He could see himself getting used to this.

* * *

Ami was surprisingly nice considering all the time Iruka had spent hating her. Her girlfriend, Tetra, reminded him a lot of Anko, which meant they got along instantly, much to the bemusement of Ami and Kakashi. Ami was an amazing cook and she smiled every time Kakashi leaned into Iruka or wrapped his arm around Iruka's waist.

"I'm happy for you two," she said as dinner wound to a close. "You belong together. I'm sorry I got in the way of that."

"Don't worry about it," Iruka said and was surprised to find he meant it. He couldn't fault what happened, not when it got the council off Kakashi's back and Shin was such a nice kid. "It all worked out in the end."

The look Ami gave Tetra was a near copy of the way Kakashi looked at Iruka. "It did, didn't it?"

Kakashi squeezed Iruka's hand. Iruka couldn't stop smiling.

* * *

It took half a day to move Kakashi into Iruka's house. He didn't have much, still. Kakashi likely never would. He wasn't much for material things. Most of the stuff they moved was Shin's, who would be taking over the spare bedroom. Kakashi and Ami had joint custody so Shin would be spending every other week with them.

Iruka's house felt full in a way it hadn't been since Kakashi had moved out. Even more so now with Shin there. It was like a dream Iruka had had once, one that he had never imagined coming true. But it was true and Kakashi was here to stay.

They were married. They had a child.

He couldn't be happier.


End file.
